However, the description of the Last Supper in the New Testament does not offer enough information to conclude definitively that it was a Passover meal. Beginning a meal with drinking wine and breaking bread could have been part of a Sabbath evening meal or even a weekday meal.
Indeed, according to the Gospel of John, the Last Supper took place the evening before Passover and Jesus was crucified on the eve of Passover at the time of the Passover offering for, according to John, Jesus is the Passover offering. Regardless of whether or not the Last Supper was a Passover seder , Passover plays a crucial role in understanding Easter in particular and Christianity in general.
Just as for Jews Passover represents the redemption from slavery and the deliverance to freedom, for Christians Easter represents the ultimate redemption of humankind through the life and death of Jesus. But while Passover is crucial for understanding the story of Easter, Christians should not allow these theological points to obstruct their understanding and observance of the Passover seder.
Rather, the seder rituals and foods should be understood in the context of Judaism. The most important symbols of Passover are the matzah unleavened bread , maror bitter herbs , and lamb or shank bone. The Bible tells us that we are to eat the lamb with matzah and maror Exodus , and later on the rabbis insisted that we had not properly observed Passover if we did not explain these three items.
The lamb bone some Jews use bones from other animals represents the Paschal lamb whose blood was used to mark the Jewish homes which God passed over during the tenth and final plague, the slaying of the firstborn of the Egyptians. The sacrifice and eating of the lamb was central to the Passover ritual until the destruction of the second Temple in the year 70 C. Common Era. Since we no longer make the Passover offering, it is traditional not to eat lamb at the seder, but to represent the lamb with a bone.
Jews eat matzah at the Passover seder to recall the haste with which the Hebrews left Egypt, baking their dough before it had a chance to rise Exodus The Last Supper, before Jesus was arrested and put to death, was a Passover meal. The first Christians were Jews, and as such, continued to worship in synagogues and partake in many Jewish customs. Paul, though an apostle to the Gentiles, appears to have continued celebrating Passover Acts ; Acts ; 1 Corinthians Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch — as you really are.
For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Jesus is likened to the sacrificial lamb. As time went on, the church grew from majority Jewish to majority Gentile. These Gentiles were largely unaware of Jewish culture, so those things not specifically tied-up with Christian doctrine were often lost. As Christians, the church was no longer bound by Old Testament law Romans With these laws, many of the associated customs fell away as well.
Eventually, the celebration of Easter grew more prevalent than the celebration of Passover. In AD at the Council of Nicaea, Easter was cemented as the day to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, and its date was also determined.
This was when Easter perhaps most officially replaced Passover. However, today, more Christians are beginning to take an interest in Passover and its meaning for the Jewish people and Christians alike. In the end, we must look to verses like Colossians :. Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. You may cancel your subscription at anytime by calling Customer Service.
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